Next week is National Sleep Awareness Week. We at MommaSaid want you to be aware that there is sleep, even if you’re not getting any. At the end of the week, we will spring forward our clocks for Daylight Saving Time – and lose an entire hour of sleep.

Sigh.

THE FREEBIE:

WHAT’S THE PRIZE?
A free Good Nite Lite (www.goodnitelite.com), valued at $34.99. It’s a behavioral modification device that features a friendly, glowing caricature face that changes from a Moon to a Sun at the programmed “wake-up” time, and from a Sun to a Moon at the programmed “bedtime. Plus, signed copies of Jen Singer’s books, “Stop Second-Guessing Yourself — The Toddler Years” and “Stop Second Guessing Yourself — The Preschool Years,” 2010 gold Mom’s Choice Award winners, both with chapters on finding that elusive sleep.

CoolMomPicks.com reviewed Jen’s books, saying, “Jen has bestowed us with the rare parenting guides that actually give parents the shot of confidence we need to survive another day. Or sometimes, just another five minutes.”

WHY THAT’S COOL: The Good Nite Lite can help parents and their kids make the transition smoothly, learning healthy and acceptable sleeping habits. With the help of their parents, children rapidly come to associate the moon image with the knowledge that it is still bedtime and the sun with the idea that it is the correct time to wake up. During the day, the Good Nite Lite automatically shuts off to eliminate any distractions and to conserve energy. Created by a father after his children would wake up at 5:00 a.m. every morning, regardless of what time they went to bed, the Good Nite Lite is available at www.GoodNiteLite.com for just $34.99. While the Good Nite Lite was not designed to aid children with special needs, it has also been a great tool for assisting individuals and families who have been affected by poor sleep (autism, hearing impairment, etc).

And Jen’s writing has been known to make coffee come out of moms’ noses on occasion.

HOW YOU CAN WIN: Post a comment under this blogtelling us which you’d rather do, lose an hour or gain one, and why.

DEADLINE: Noon ET on Monday, March 8th. A winner will be selected at random by Random.org. Good luck!

I thoroughly enjoy gaining the extra hour when we fall back…I’m a night owl and I get happy to know I have some extra time to read or catch up on some DVR’d shows! However, I’m still talking about getting black out shades for our kids’ rooms…that would hopefully solve the crazy wake up times!!!

I would love to gain an hour! Instead of napping or resting, which sounds great, I would end up on facebook or email or doing household chores…but, I STILL would GAIN an hour and it’s MY hour!!!! Keep doing what you do, Jen!

I would rather lose the hour. The kids still wake up at the same time, but at least the clock ‘says’ it’s an hour later, so somehow that makes me feel more rested, even though I’m still sleep deprived. I found your website when my first born was a wee one and I’m still coming back for laughs! This light would be a great idea for my 4yo who still needs help figuring out the whole clock-thing!

I have an 18 month old and a ten year old, I am finally sleeping – not much, but better than before. I would still rather gain an hour because I can’t remember what a full night’s sleep feels like or the last time, I slept in. I want to remember, but it is like a big old blur.

I am a new mommy of a four-month-old baby boy and I am writing this when I would looove to take a nap! Unfortunately, little Achilles will be up in an hour or two for yet another feeding so I decide not to torture myself by falling asleep only to wake up again. My baby sleeps and wakes up whenever he feels like so, an hour plus or minus, it doesn’t really matter! This light is definitely lovely, however!

I would definetly rather lose an hour. I like leaving work at 5:30pm and still having it be light out. I hate driving home in the dark .It seems so depressing. So psyched to put those clocks forward!!
ANd now that I have my 18month old son finally sleeping in his own bed…..I can finally get some sleep and don’t mind losing the extra hour!! WOOHOO!!

I just wish they would quit messing with the time all together. My sleep cycles are all messed up due to children anyway, losing and gaining hours just throws me off even more. What would be really nice is if every kid born on the face of the earth had a sensor installed in them. When the sun goes down, they automatically drop off into sound peaceful sleep. When the sun comes up, they are bright eyed, bushy tailed and HAPPY!! I am weary of bedtime struggle and the “I don’t want to get up and go to school!” whine. But alas, motherhood wasn’t meant to be that simple. So, if I really have to choose to lose and hour of sleep, or gain one? I’d rather gain one!

I actually like to lose the hr of sleep.Call me crazy, but an extra hr of sunshine in this groggy haze, I am all for it ! I don’t require a lot of sleep as is, and this lets us have sunlight until dinner, which I love ! Just the saying spring forward, makes me want to scream YIPPEE ! I have three sons, one being a 4 yr old that hasn’t ever befriended sleep, so it really doesn’t make much difference to me besides it allows us more time outside,..which in turn could potentially help my lil one sleep better.. I love it !!!

I always think YES! when I am going to gain an hour of sleep, but with kids, it never happens. So I actually think losing an hour is what I prefer, because it doesn’t seem to mess me up as badly (I suppose it’s because I’m used to not getting enough sleep!).

I would rather gain an hour. Maybe then I could get caught up on laundry, clean the house, return a few emails, write a couple blog entries, fill out all the endless forms that seem to come home from school everday and squeeze in a few extra minutes of quality time with my daughter. It doesn’t matter if we ‘gain’ or ‘lose’ an hour, my daughter will still wake up at 6:30…sigh!

This whole “lose” or “gain” is a bunch of hooey when you have small children. They sleep the same amount, regardless of what time the clock says. Every spring and fall, especially when I have an infant, I try to remember how it worked with the older kids…and I fail. After my third child I just decided to roll with it. We sleep when we can around here, which is pretty much between 1:42AM and 3:14AM. {SIGH} I love your books, though! At least they give me something interesting to read when I’m awake!